Govt. is implementing resources to its fullest, says Piyush Goyal

June 13, 2017 | Published by :

New Delhi [India], June 13 (ANI): Hailing the achievements made by the ministries for their effortless attributes in the last three years of the Narendra Modi-led government, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal has ensured optimum utilisation of natural resources for national development for various crucial energy related programmes. Goyal informed that achieving the Mission of 24×7 Affordable Clean 'Power for All' and ensuring the optimum utilization of natural resources for national development are very critical to 'Ujwal Bharat' which will help in realizing Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi's vision of New India. Over the past three years, the Ministries of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines have made considerable progress towards achieving this goal. Addressing an event while video conferencing with the media of seven cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Patna, the minister highlighted that the govt. has so far worked on six fundamental principles to achieve the goal of Ujwal Bharat, which includes SULABH (Accesible Power), SASTI (Cheap Power), SWACHH (Clean Power), SUNIYOJIT (Well Planned Infrastructure; Preparing India for the Future), SUNISHCHIT (Assured Power for All) and SURAKSHIT (Empowering each Citizen of India with Transparent Governance and Securing their Future). Goyal laid emphasis that all the stakeholders concerned with the four sectors, viz., Union Government, State Governments, Power sector players (Public and Private), Mining Sector participants and investors, consumers, citizens etc have to work in coordination, with the sole aim of SEWA (Service) to each citizen of India. Detailing the major achievements of the four ministries in brief Goyal enumerated that all states have signed the 'Power for All' agreements highlighting Government's commitment to the principle of Cooperative Federalism. SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India) is a transformational policy for auction and allotment of coal linkages and will lead to affordable power, access to coal and accountability in the allocation of coal. The Mega Power Policy will facilitate competitive bidding for future Power Purchase Agreements and ensure long term project viability. Adding to this he said that the highest ever 60GW addition in conventional power, about 40 percent increase in transformation capacity, and over one-fourth increase in transmission lines since April 2014-March 2017, have made India a power surplus country, with no shortage of electricity or coal. 'One Nation, One Grid, One Price' was further strengthened with surplus electricity available at affordable rates for States. For the first time, India became a net exporter of electricity in 2016-17. UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana), as a comprehensive reform of the distribution sector saw progress, with savings of nearly Rs. 12,000 crore for DISCOMs due to issuance of UDAY Bonds worth Rs. 2.32 lakh crore. These savings will help in providing affordable power to consumers. Through reforms, India's ranking in 'Ease of Getting Electricity' by the World Bank rose from 99 in 2015 to 26 in 2017. Government is driven by 'Antyodaya' – serving the last man at the bottom of the pyramid, based on the philosophy of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. The birth centenary year of this great philosopher, humanist and nationalist is being commemorated as Garib Kalyan Varsh. The flagship scheme for rural electrification (DDUGJY – Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana) has received special attention. Less than 4,000 of the 18,452 remaining un-electrified villages (as of 1st April 2015) remain, and will be electrified by May 2018. To ensure light in not just every village but every home, the Government has set the target of electrifying every household by 2022. About 4.5 crore rural households remain, as per data submitted by the States. India has received world recognition for its energy efficiency initiatives. More than 23 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Electricity for All), and this has served a twofold purpose – helped save Rs. 12,400 crores in electricity bills, and reduced CO2 emissions by over 2.5 crore tonnes annually. (ANI)